well, at the start of this month i won the in house race for the 2nd time in straight races... this time i cut it a lot closer than the last time but the conditions were very different... anyway... i trained yesterday and admittedly, i sailed horribly, it seemed to me that my boat was sort of stalling and felt underpowered yet i was still fighting to keep it flat while beating up to the first mark, yes there were waves and i tried to manage them but its been a while since i've sailed with such used to such steep waves on the course. It almost seemed impossible, furthermore the boat didn't seem to have that flow over the waves which other sailors have. I was sailing a radial and the wind wasn't terribly strong, maybe up to 12 knots towards the end of the day? perhaps i wasn't keying in on my sail settings quickly because i had just swapped all my lines end for end so that they wear out evenly.
I need serious help with my mark rounding technique and upwind sailing in choppy water, with strong current and medium wind. i want to feel the boat flowing or at least feel that I'm sailing quickly up wind... i think I'm so critical about my mark rounding especially at the leeward mark having watched some videos of Olympic sailors and watched some of the top sailors in Singapore sheeting in non stop as if its really easy, i know its going to be hard work, and countless sets of concentration curls but I'm ready for it, i think... and if there's a will, there's a way. well, at least I've got targets and having not sailed in choppy conditions, i conclude I'm out of rhythm... i think more reading and water time will help. anyway, Uncle Tony's been pushing me in the right directions and teaching me to protect my position after coming round the leeward mark while leading... i wonder why he's been doing this... its not as if I'm always first round the buoys... oh well... I'll just keep training... ah, routine's going to be studying, gym, church and sailing... I'm looking forward to the sailing season proper (:
to end on a super happy note, besides swapping all my lines end for end, I've got myself a new main sheet... its ORANGE... and white... haha! its 7mm and measures 15 meters long, this gives me lots of line to play about with when i'm going off-wind, allows me to attach the tail to the end of the toestrap so it doesnt tangle, runs through the blocks really nicely and is extremely light so the sail is able to move out quickly. however, there's only 1 downside, its not the most abrasion resistant line in the world, after sailing yesterday the bit hairy at the parts which experience the most abrasion on the ratchet block and at the tail end at the end boom block. but still, its a lovely piece of work... anyway, happy sailing !
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